HON. BRUTUS J. CLAY, farmer and stockraiser, deceased; P. O. Paris, was one
of the prominent representatives of Bourbon County, and one of its honored
citizens. He belongs to a numerous family, who trace their ancestry from
England to the Old Dominion, thence to Kentucky, where the younger members
of the family have become identified. According to an account carefully
written by Green Clay, the father of the above, Sept. 12, 1784, is gleaned
the following: The family trace their name to one John Clay, a native of
England, who came to America as a British Grenadier, during Bacon's
Rebellion; from him have descended all the different members of the Clay
family. In direct line from the above was John, who was born in Virginia,
where he married, and was the father of four sons, one of whom went North,
one South, the others lived and died in Virginia, to-wit: Henry and Charles
Clay, of Amelia County, Va. In direct line comes Henry, who married Mary
Mitchell; by her had four sons and several daughters; the sons were
William, Henry, Charles and John, who was the grandfather of Henry Clay, of
Ashland. Next in order comes Charles, who was born Jan. 31, 1716. He
married Martha Green, who bore him eleven children: Mrs. Mary Locket,
Eliza, Charles, Henry, Thomas (who was the grandfather of Senator Thomas T.
McCreery), Eliza (Murray), Lucy (Thaxton), Matt (Congressman from
Tennessee), Green, Priscilla, Mary (Lewis). Green Clay, next in order of
descent, was born Aug. 14, 1757; he married Sallie Lewis; by her had six
[sic] children, viz: Sidney, Brutus J., Cassius M., Betsey (Smith),
Pauline, Rodes and Sallie Johnson. Brutus J. Clay, who is next in descent,
was born July 1, 1808, in Madison County, Ky.; he graduated at Center
College, and in 1837 settled in Bourbon County, where he engaged quite
extensively in stock-raising, being at one time one of the most extensive
fine stockraisers in Central Kentucky; 1840, was elected to the State
Legislature, and about the same time was elected President of the Bourbon
County Agricultural Society, and in 1853 was elected President of the
State Agricultural Society, and was honored with a re-election, serving
in this capacity eight years in all, declining to serve longer. In 1860,
was elected to the Legislature; was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress,
serving as Chairman on the Committee of Agriculture, and as a member of
the Convention on Revolutionary Pensions. He was a successful farmer,
his farm being one of the best improved in the county. His wife was Anna
M. Field, whose offspring was Cassius M., the present incumbent of the
homestead. He was born March 26, 1846; he married Sue E. Clay, daughter
of Samuel Clay; she died, leaving him four children: Junius B., Samuel H.,
Annie L. and Sue E. Cassius M. represented his county in the Legislature
in 1872, and was re-elected, and like his father, is a model farmer.
